I was a bit nervous about proposing to Suerynn Lee that she teach us how to draw dysfunctional relationships because, well, I’ve never met Suerynn’s husband, and maybe he’s the kinda guy who doesn’t take kindly to people asking his wife to talk about bad romance. Seems unlikely, but you never know. Even more important, Suerynn herself was not personally offended by the ask. Also, she agrees with me that Valentine’s Day is stupid, unless you love paying five times as much for a crappier prix-fixe version of a meal in a restaurant packed with people performatively displaying their affection and, I don’t know, exchanging Kay diamonds (also, viral droplets). So, my bitter, skeptical, Cupid-denying friends, enjoy Suerynn’s foray into the not-so-good, the pretty bad, and the downright hilarious sides of romance. And, please, on the fourteenth, just pick up a pizza and eat it at home like a sane person.
—Emma Allen, New Yorker humor editor
Do you draw with your left or right hand?
Right hand.
What art do you have hanging on your studio walls or above your drawing desk?
A big poster of Tove Jansson’s Moomin running through a field of flowers, a couple of postcards, and a tiny painting of a sea snail that says, “Keep on sluggin’.”
Do you snack while you draw? If so, on what?
I try to take a real break from drawing if I want to eat something, but if I were forced to snack while I was drawing, I’d pick those individually wrapped gummy candies from Kasugai. No cheese dust, crumbs, or sticky residue.
Do you listen to music or podcasts while you draw? If so, specify.
I prefer to work in silence, but sometimes I’ll listen to music when I’m doing things that don’t require clarity of thought. Lately, I’ve been listening to Delta 5. All their songs sound like they’re telling people off, and it’s delightful.
What object or setting do you absolutely hate drawing?
I think I subconsciously hate drawing built settings of any kind (interiors or exteriors), and only grudgingly include them when the gag absolutely calls for it. Funnily enough, I’m friends with quite a few architects.
What’s your favorite New Yorker cartoon trope or cliché (e.g., desert island, Grim Reaper, Rapunzel tower, etc.)?
Anything taking place in Hell. I don’t believe in an afterlife, but it’s always fun to imagine that people will actually be punished for things they did during their lifetimes and to see what people think of as being torturous/torture-worthy.
If you could have dinner with one cartoonist, living or dead, tonight, whom would it be?
Maybe someone who’s dead so there’s less danger of either of us contracting or spreading the coronavirus. William Steig! I just read his children’s book “Shrek!” and I loved it so much.
What would you serve?
A spicy noodle soup made with odds and ends from my fridge (probably Napa cabbage, shiitake mushroom, and scallion) and beer from the corner store.
What was your favorite cartoon strip or animation as a kid?
“Calvin and Hobbes,” no contest. I was also obsessed with an old Mad magazine book of “Spy vs. Spy” that my uncle gave me. I loved that it’s wordless and that the two spies are so vengeful toward each other. Neither one can ever let anything go, so they keep tricking, trapping, and dynamiting each other in perpetuity. The perfect relationship. Or at least the most entertaining.
What did you spend your first New Yorker cartoon-sale check on?
I bought a fifteen-dollar Kuretake sumi brush pen after depositing my first check, and I’ve been using it to fill in all the solid-black spaces in my finished cartoons since then.
If you had to get a tattoo (or new tattoo) right now, what would you get?
If I absolutely had to, it would be text that says, “as ________ as.” It would be a good reminder that one exists in relation to certain ideas/forces/structures/communities, and what those entities are often evolves and doesn’t remain constant. It’s also handy if you ever forget how to structure a simile.
Dogs or cats?
Either, as long as they are mellow, affectionate, and don’t use their intelligence to sow chaos.
